Juan Vietorisz

Juan Vietorisz

A native New Yorker and Cuban-Hungarian, Juan received two B.A. degrees in English and Psychology from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, and an Ed. M. degree in School Psychology from Teachers College Columbia University in New York, NY. He has a strong passion in the areas of education, psychology, and languages.

Juan was born into an all hearing family. He became profoundly deaf in both ears at the age of 17 months, brought on by spinal meningitis. He grew up like the Wild Boy of Aveyron without a language and meaningful communication. When Juan was five years old, he was placed in Lexington School for the Deaf. His parents also arranged for him to have weekly tutoring sessions with a Deaf man in his twenties, Frank Bowe who at the time was studying for Ph. D. in educational psychology at the New York University. Under his tutelage, Juan learned sign language initially and then later came reading and writing. Everybody in his family learned to communicate with him using sign language. From there, Juan thrived and became the gentleman he is today—with an edge.

Juan enjoys reading, cooking & baking, checking out hottest new restaurants in the city, skiing, going to beaches and body-surfing, debating & philosophizing, traveling, and soaking up the most spectacular city on the planet with occasional jaunts to the outer regions.